It’s a gorgeously sunny day here in New York city today but it looks like I will yet again be chained to my desk for the majority of it. I could blame my sad pale complexion on these recent work demands but as I’ve said here before, I am by nature pasty. While others laze under the summer sun with abandon, I must neurotically apply sunscreen and hunt out slivers of shade to avoid either turning into one giant freckle or going a horrifying lobster red.

(On this note, Laura over at NotSoSkinnyGenes- I feel your pain! A sunburned back is no fun although I personally think my most uncomfortable sunburn was one I got a few years ago on the back of my thighs. You don’t realize how often you sit down until it hurts to do so! While we’re on this topic, let me just say if you see someone who is burned to a crisp, PLEASE resist the urge to tell them how burned they are. Chances are they are well aware of it and your pointing it out will only intensify the self-consciousness they feel. Sorry for the PSA but when your skin is crackling, you need all the kindness you can get!)

Digression aside- pallid limbs seem out of place at the height of summer. They feel indecent and naked, not in a sexy ‘let me see more’ sort of a way but more of an ‘EGADS! Put it away!’ vibe which is regrettable. This summer I have been turning to NARS’s Body Illuminator to give me a subtle glow that still looks realistic. It is essentially make-up for the body*. Applied like a body oil (I generally use Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil Gel beforehand), it gives my limbs a healthy sheen and leaves me a little bit happier even if I’ll be sitting at a desk all day. It’s not as cheap as Sally Hansen’s Airbrush Legs but a little goes a long way and it isn’t as severe (I tried SH’s palest shade and looked absolutely bizarre, like my legs and face belonged to two different beings). The Body Illuminator has become an absolute summer essential, leaving me looking like myself only less fluorescent/reflective. If your gams and clamoring for some color, look no further!

Now dear readers, I turn it over to you…I am always game for trying new products, let me know what your summer beauty essentials are

*It is not a self-tanner which I have given up on as they require perfect skin which I don’t have, a perfect application technique which I don’t have the patience for and generally turn me an orange-brown that might look OK on Jordan but is just alien on me.